


A New Acquaintance

by benjaminrussell



Series: Tales of Aciva [3]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: First Impressions, Gen, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:34:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24475090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benjaminrussell/pseuds/benjaminrussell
Summary: Zara meets a baby and totally doesn't panic, honest.
Series: Tales of Aciva [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1680022
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	A New Acquaintance

**Author's Note:**

> For a tumblr prompt: "the protagonist and a new acquaintance". 
> 
> Zara's in her early teens at this point, and desperately trying to get the adults to let her train to be a blood hunter.

Zara stared at the bundle Melissa was holding out, but she wouldn’t admit to anything as commonplace as _fear,_ so she tentatively reached forward to take it. The farmer helped settle it in Zara’s arms and only stepped back once she was sure Zara had a firm grip. Zara looked down and now she could see the small child that was almost engulfed in the swaddling blankets. The tiny baby that was Melissa and Artur’s son. Thankfully, he was sleeping soundly still because she didn’t know what she’d do otherwise. Panic probably, and that wouldn’t help the courageous and ‘totally ready to start proper training damnit’ air that she was trying to project.

“What’s his name?” She asked quietly, glancing up briefly as she spoke.

“Josef,” Artur replied, smiling proudly in a way that reminded Zara of her own father. She quickly clamped down on that thought and distracted herself by gazing back at Josef and his tiny features, because thinking about her parents was still painful and so she tried to avoid it (someone once suggested she try talking about them, but there was no-one here that had known them. In fact, as far as Zara knew, other than possibly her aunt who she barely remembered, everyone who knew them was also dead).

As if at the mention of his name, Josef stirred and woke up, immediately letting out a surprisingly loud cry at the unfamiliar arms he found himself in. Zara did indeed panic and would have dropped him if not for Melissa darting forward to catch him. Melissa’s gentle cooing and rocking soon calmed the baby, but Zara couldn’t help but worry about what might have happened if she _had_ dropped him. She could feel the warm flush covering her neck and cheeks, and even though she knew it wasn’t as obvious given the colour of her skin, she still felt that everyone must be judging her for being thrown off guard by a _baby_!

She muttered, “Sorry,” and then slunk away, heading for the woods round the back of the old crumbling mansion where she could hide for the rest of the day. Well, at least until dinner when her hunger forced her out of hiding.


End file.
